Communities that thrive in extreme conditions captured from a freshwater lake

Abstract

Organisms that can grow in extreme conditions would be expected to be confined to extreme environments. However, we were able to capture highly productive communities of algae and bacteria capable of growing in acidic ( pH 2), basic ( pH 12) and saline (40 ppt) conditions from an ordinary freshwater lake. Microbial communities may thus include taxa that are highly productive in conditions that are far outside the range of conditions experienced in their host ecosystem. The organisms we captured were not obligate extremophiles, but were capable of growing in both extreme and benign conditions. The ability to grow in extreme conditions may thus be a common functional attribute in microbial communities.

A low proportion of rare bacterial taxa responds to abiotic changes compared with dominant taxa

“…This is in agreement with a general increase of taxa within Bacillales as during high temperature composting (Liao et al ., ). This indicates that rare as well as dominant taxa have the ability to tolerate specific disturbances and is consistent with a study by Low‐Décarie and colleagues () finding no trade‐off between the ability to grow under extreme and under benign conditions.…”

Tales from the tomb: the microbial ecology of exposed rock surfaces

“…The eukaryotic taxa that were enriched on granite surfaces included the acid‐tolerant free‐living algae Apatococcus (Gustavs et al ., ; Low‐Décarie et al ., ), the melanized, microcolonial rock‐inhabiting fungi Knufia (Noack‐Schönmann et al ., ) and Catenulostroma (Ruibal et al ., ). The limestone‐enriched eukaryotes included several taxa associated with lichens; the fungal order Teloschistales are almost entirely lichenized, while the algae Heveochlorella are known lichen photobionts (Sanders et al ., ).…”

Extremophile Microalgae: the potential for biotechnological application

“…Strains of Chlorella are known to grow across a wide pH range (Mayo , Low‐Decarie et al. ). The resistance of several algae to AMD might be due either to their ability to complex metals outside the cells (Podda et al.…”

“…Facultative extremophiles may thrive in benign environments if the extremophilic functional attributes come at little or no cost for growth under those conditions (Low‐Decarie et al. ). However, the obligate extremophiles are the most described ones and may be found in several ecosystems if the latter ones contain extreme microhabitats, permanent or ephemeral (Low‐Decarie et al.…”

“…However, the obligate extremophiles are the most described ones and may be found in several ecosystems if the latter ones contain extreme microhabitats, permanent or ephemeral (Low‐Decarie et al. ). For instance, several microalgae have adapted to highly specialized or extreme environments such as hot or cold deserts (Lewis and Lewis , De Wever et al.…”